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Right-border sequences enable the left border of an Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline Ti-plasmid to produce single-stranded DNA

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Abstract

The T-region of nopaline-type Ti-plasmids (the portion of the plasmid that is transferred to plant cells) of Agrobacterium tumefaciens is delimited by 23–25 bp direct repeats. They are nicked by the products of the virD locus and the presence of these nicked sites is correlated with the synthesis of single-stranded T-region copies. Despite previous indications to the contrary, we show that the pTiT37 T-region left border is capable of producing single-stranded DNA with high efficiency and that its ability to do so is totally dependent on right border-proximal cis-acting sequences, most probably overdrive, located several kilobases from the border. The absence of overdrive does not affect the single-strand nicking activity of the virD product but only the production of single-stranded copies from the nicked substrate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois, 1102 S. Goodwin Avenue, 61801, Urbana, IL, USA

    Francisco A. Culianez-Macia & Angus G. Hepburn

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  1. Francisco A. Culianez-Macia
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  2. Angus G. Hepburn
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Culianez-Macia, F.A., Hepburn, A.G. Right-border sequences enable the left border of an Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline Ti-plasmid to produce single-stranded DNA. Plant Mol Biol 11, 389–399 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00039019

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00039019

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